Secretariat, United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio + 20)

RE: Input and Contributions to the Rio + 20 compilation document to serve as a basis for
the preparation of zero draft of the outcome document.

Dear UNCSD Secretariat,

The Dene Nation (Northwest Territories, Canada), the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (Thunder
Bay, Ontario, Canada), the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), the Indigenous
Environmental Network (IEN), the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism (IPCB),
Indigenous World Association IWA, as well as Alaska Community Acton on Toxics
(ACAT), and Ms. Mirna Cunningham, President, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous
Issues and on behalf of CADPI (Nicaragua), all Indigenous Nations, Organizations and
individuals of the Arctic, North America and Mesoamerica and other regionsi , present the
following recommendations for the compilation document which will serve as a basis for the
Zero draft of the outcome document of Rio + 20.

We acknowledge with approval the Manaus Declaration and in particular affirm the Conclusions
and Recommendations adopted by Indigenous Peoples at the Preparatory Conference for the
United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio + 20, June 4 ? 6, 2012.

We affirm that Indigenous peoples and individuals are free and equal to all other peoples and
individuals and have the right to be free from any kind of discrimination, in the exercise of their
rights, in particular that based on their indigenous origin or identity.

A. Indigenous Peoples and UNCED (Rio)

As does the Manaus Declaration, we recall the United Nations World Conference on the
Environment and Development (UNCED, more popularly known as the ?Earth Summit? held in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. We note that Indigenous Peoples, although denied access to the
UNCED, are prominently mentioned in the outcome documents and the activities that the United
Nations committed to carry out, including: The Rio Declaration (Principle 22); Agenda 21
(Section 3 and Chapter 26 therein) The Statement of Principles of Forests (Principles 5(a) and
2(d) ); The Intergovernmental Panel on Forests (Theme: traditional forest-related knowledge);
the Commission on Sustainable Development (Cluster: Roles of Major Groups including
Indigenous Peoples and Chapter 26); and the Convention on Biological Diversity (Article 8j).

The Rio Declaration, in Principle 22, stated that, ?Indigenous people and their communities?
have a vital role in environmental management and development because of their knowledge and
traditional practices. States should recognize and duly support their identity, culture and interests
and enable their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable development.?

Chapter 26 within Section 3, ?Recognizing and strengthening the role of indigenous people and
their communities," calls for the objectives of Agenda 21 to be accomplished, "in full partnership
with indigenous people and their communities." Chapter 26 also recognizes Indigenous Peoples'
traditional knowledge of ecology and sustainable development. It calls upon the states to
strengthen and facilitate Indigenous Peoples' participation in their own development and in
external development activities that may affect them: ?Indigenous Peoples should be accorded
greater self-control over Indigenous lands and resources, recognition of traditional subsistence
practices and the strengthening of national legislation (26.3).?

Chapter 26 does not refer specifically to right to food, it provides for the protection and
strengthening of indigenous peoples? access to and utilization of resources which form the basis
for ensuring indigenous peoples? food security. Chapter 26.3 highlights the special status of
indigenous peoples in the development process that is a basis for the control of land and
resources necessary food security and food sovereignty.
Chapter 26 also recommends, as activities in furtherance of Agenda 21, the ratification of
international instruments relevant to Indigenous Peoples; action within the UN and
international development agencies, including financial and technical support that incorporates
the views of Indigenous Peoples and their organizations in the implementation and design of
policy and; the adoption or strengthening of policies to protect Indigenous Peoples' intellectual
and cultural property. (26.4 and 26.5)

Chapter 17 refers to Indigenous Peoples' traditional fisheries (17.17), the incorporation of
traditional knowledge concerning marine ecosystems into domestic management plans [17.75(b)]
and the recognition of subsistence rights in the negotiation of international instruments on marine
resources (17.83).

Chapter 11, "Combating deforestation," recommends Indigenous participation in state
activities pertaining to forests [11.1(b)]; capacity building programs to facilitate research and
implementation of measures to protect forest ecosystems and biodiversity [11.1(g) and 11.19];
the creation of protected reserves and areas, including the traditional territories of Indigenous
Peoples [11.13(b)]; programs to support the participation of Indigenous Peoples in forestry
management [11.13(i)], and support for Indigenous organizations and communities [11.14(c)(c)].

B. Indigenous Peoples since Rio

It was not encouraging that in the 74 pages of the Commission on Sustainable Development's
report on its second session, Indigenous Peoples are specifically mentioned only twice
(paragraphs 100 and 101, under the heading, "health, human settlements and freshwater").

Other statements in Rio Documents with regard to Indigenous knowledge and its relevance to
sustainable development have been effectively undermined by the focus of UNCED and the
subsequent World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002), as well as other UN Conference
such as the World Food Summit (1996) and the World Food Summit Five Years Later (2002).
All of these Summits and Conferences called for more ?sustainable? development and a reliance
on globalization that has proven unsustainable and detrimental to global food and water security,
the loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and an increased addiction on fossil fuels.

UNCED did not address the problem of over-consumption of the world's resources and the actual
and growing inequitable distribution of wealth. Agenda 21 does not address the issue of wellbeing
or how it is measured. It only addresses Gross National Product and defines "well being"
in terms of dollars produced by development, but shared more "equitably." In effect, it called for
more consumption and more development.

The rights of Indigenous Peoples have been universally recognized since UNCED in 1992
though the adoption in 2007 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples , now
supported by all States. As noted in the Manaus Conclusions and Recommendations, the UN
Declaration is the now the accepted minimum standard which contains many provisions that are
directly relevant to the issues under discussion at Rio + 20. Nevertheless, Indigenous Peoples
rights have still not been mainstreamed or effectively safeguarded in the various processes which
were created by the UNCED, nor, overall, in international discussions about development Our
lands and resources remain fodder for the machine that continues at an alarming, exponential rate
to consume not only the world?s biological diversity, but forests, waters and fisheries, air, and
all that we hold sacred, including our cultures and identities. The focus of Rio + 20 and its
slogan, ?the green economy? promises to change very little.?

In response, and do offer a different direction, we underscore the affirmation in the Manaus
Conclusions and Recommendations that, in preparation for Rio + 20 as follows:

?Indigenous Peoples continue to challenge the development model based on resource extraction
and market-based models, which fails to recognize that we human beings are an integral part of
the natural world, and also fails to respect human rights, including the inherent rights of
Indigenous Peoples. International standards like the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples affirm that development is social and cultural, as well as economic.
Indigenous Peoples maintain the right to define and freely pursue our own vision of development
based on our needs, priorities, traditional understandings and responsibilities, including the
cultural and spiritual relationships with the Natural World, our ancestral territories and the
ecosystems that have sustained us since time immemorial. We also affirm our sacred
responsibility to defend the lives and survival of future generations of our Peoples.?

Indigenous Peoples have much to offer the world in maintaining its sustainability. Our vision of
the Sacred relationship to our Mother the Earth is real and has allowed us to maintain the Earth?s
remaining biological diversity and its life creating and life sustaining capacity. Not considering
humanity?s relationship to the Earth and ensuring the Earth?s capacity to create and maintain life
can only lead to humanity?s destruction.

Even by accepted western scientific measurement, the focus on globalized development is
inexorably going down that destructive road. The world?s monetary crisis should serve as a
lesson on the greed and indifference to humanity and human rights that characterizes the
liberalization of trade. Indigenous Peoples are most directly and most profoundly affected by this
indifference. Now the rest of the world is as well affected by this crisis and its causes.

But all things are related. The relevance of the fact of Indigenous Peoples living in harmony and
balance within very diverse ecosystems demonstrate the essential relationship between cultural
diversity and biological diversity. The focus of UNCED and now, Rio + 20, on assigning
monetary ?value? to ?ecosystem services? are themselves related to the creation of markets and
the destruction of biodiversity and with that, the destruction of Indigenous cultures, of identities
and sacred relationship with the Earth.

C. Rio + 20 and the ?Green Economy?

The themes of Rio + 20 promise much as did UNCED 20 years ago: ?Green Economy in the
context of sustainable development and poverty eradication;? and, ?Institutional Framework for
sustainable development.? It is clear by the discussions so far, that the icons of ?green? including
the solar panel, the wind turbine and the neon light bulb are not the sole agenda items. Global
Industrialized Agriculture and biomass are included in the discussion on the ?Green Economy.?

As in the discussions on climate change, the Green Economy debate places great importance on
renewable sources of energy and the production and manufacturing of materials now petroleum
based, as the basis for a new vision of ?sustainable development.? The transition to the Green
Economy calls for agriculture as the primary source of renewable material for bio-fuels and new
technologies for non-petroleum based manufacturing. New biological technology is being touted
as the provider of renewable and thus ?sustainable? development, for food security, ?clean?
energy and poverty alleviation. As all things are related, it is no accident that the largest
transnationals in the world are developing technologies on bio-mass and its use in renewable
fuels and manufacturing materials.

A world-wide ?bio-economy? is proposed as the solution to climate change and sustainable
development. Again, as in proposals for ?market based solutions? to climate change, the Earth?s
biological resources are the target for this new ?green? economy and the markets that it will
create. The very basis of life, genetic material, both plant and animal, become potential markets
in this formula. The experience of Indigenous Peoples, particularly those that inhabit bio-rich
environments, is that their lands, territories, waters and total environments are targets for the new
technologies, industrialized agriculture and the concentration of productive lands, their lands, in
the hands of the private few, for the production of so-called ?renewable? resources.

Rio + 20 must include e a deeper examination of global sustainability and not merely an
opportunity for more markets and business as usual in the name of a ?Green Economy?. It is an
opportunity to examine why the promise of UNCED, in spite of the many UN fora, conventions
and subsidiary bodies that it created and the billions of dollars spent in its search for sustainable
development, failed not only to alleviate poverty, but produced a major and growing loss of
biological diversity, the pollution of the world?s waters, oceans, rivers and streams, growing
food insecurity and an unsustainable world economy. As in climate change, there is also an
ecological debt outstanding. As many have said and are saying, ?Business as usual is not an
option. And Governance as usual is not an option.?

Specific Text Recommendations for the Zero Draft

Zero Draft Preamble

Keeping in mind the United Nations Declaration on the right to development and its recognition
that the right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human
person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social,
cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be
fully realized,ii

Noting the relevance of the United Nations Declaration on the right to development to
sustainable development, that the human right to development also implies the full realization of
the right of all Peoples, including Indigenous peoples, to self-determination, which includes,
subject to the relevant provisions of both International Covenants on Human Rights, the exercise
of their inalienable right to full sovereignty over all their natural wealth and resources,iii

Recognizing that sustainable development is a process that leads to the fulfillment of all human
rights,iv

Recognizing and reaffirming the human rights basis of sustainable development and rejecting
unsustainable development practices that violate human rights, in all programmes and outcomes
of Rio + 20, States shall recognize, respect and fulfill all human rights and particularly the rights
recognized in the United Nations Declaration on the right to Development as the right of all
Peoples and individuals, emphasizing its goal of a participatory development by all,v

Keeping in mind, General Assembly Resolution A/Res/60/1 of 24 October 2005, on the
outcomes of the World Summit, that: ?the sustainable development of indigenous peoples and
their communities is crucial in our fight against hunger and poverty?, and its commitment,: ?to
respect, preserve and maintain the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local
communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of
biological diversity, promote their wider application with the approval and involvement of the
holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the equitable sharing of the
benefits arising from their utilization?

Reaffirming the General Assembly?s ?commitment to continue making progress in the
advancement of the human rights of the world?s indigenous peoples at the local, national,
regional and international levels, including through consultation and collaboration with them.? in
that same resolution,

Affirming that all decisions, programs and actions pertaining to sustainable development shall be
carried out in conformity with international human rights norms and standards including the
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.vi

Further affirming, the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples (2007)
article 32 that the Right of Development for Indigenous Peoples must be based on the right to
Free Prior and Informed Consent.

Operative paragraphs f or the Zero Draft

General Provisions

1. Indigenous Peoples have much to offer the world in maintaining its sustainability. Our
vision of the Sacred relationship to our Mother the Earth is real and has allowed us to
maintain the Earth?s remaining biological diversity and its life creating and life sustaining
capacity. Not considering humanity?s relationship to the Earth and ensuring the Earth?s
capacity to create and maintain life can only lead to humanity?s destruction.

2. But all things are related. The relevance of the fact of Indigenous Peoples living in
harmony and balance within very diverse ecosystems demonstrate the essential
relationship between cultural diversity and biological diversity. The focus of UNCED and
now, Rio + 20, on assigning monetary ?value? to ?ecosystem services? are themselves
related to the creation of markets and the destruction of biodiversity and with that, the
destruction of Indigenous cultures, of identities and sacred relationship with the Earth.

3. Rio + 20 must include a deeper examination of global sustainability and not merely an
opportunity for more markets and business as usual in the name of a ?Green Economy?.
It is an opportunity to examine why the promise of UNCED, in spite of the many UN
fora, conventions and subsidiary bodies that it created, the billions of dollars spent in its
search for sustainable development, failed not only to alleviate poverty, but produced a
major and growing loss of biological diversity, the pollution of the world?s waters,
oceans, rivers and streams, growing food insecurity and an unsustainable world economy.
As in climate change, there is also an ecological debt outstanding. As many have said and
are saying, ?Business as usual is not an option. And Governance as usual is not an
option.?

The ?Green Economy?

4. The call of UNCED for ?national and international efforts to implement environmentally
sound and sustainable development should recognize, accommodate, promote and
strengthen the role of indigenous peoples and their communities? is reaffirmed along with
a call for the full respect, protection and fulfillment of Indigenous Peoples? rights as
recognized in the United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, in all
outcomes of Rio +20.vii

5. In this context, we continue to challenge the development model that promotes the
domination of nature, relentless economic growth, resource extraction without limits with
profit, consumption and production patterns, products and unregulated financial markets.
The prevailing econometric system fails to understand that humans are an integral part of
the natural world, and does not respect the inherent human rights, including rights of
indigenous peoples. We believe that our world view and respect for natural law, our
spirituality and culture and values of reciprocity, harmony with nature, solidarity,
community, caring and sharing among each other, are crucial to a more just, equitable
and sustainable.viii

6. The proposed "Green Economy" should be defined and differentiated from the model of
development based on market approach and resource extraction. It is important that
developed countries emphasize conservation and reduced consumption levels and that
projects and proposals for sustainable development support the functioning, protection
and restoration of Indigenous economies, food systems and local production, respect and
implementation of human rights including the rights of indigenous peoples and respect
for our development proposals. Any discussion of green economy must include full and
effective participation and the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of indigenous peoples in
all stages.ix

7. The ?Cultural Pillar? should be adopted at Rio + 20 as the missing ?4th Pillar? of
Sustainable Development based on the perspectives, rights, traditional knowledge,
cultural integrity, identity and sustainable practices of Indigenous Peoples which are
integral to our vision, practice and understanding of development, thus effectively,
reflecting the international accepted definition of the right to development, as a
fundamental component of self-determination of all peoples.

8. The ?Green Economy? shall focus sustained efforts to fund and ensure sustainable
communities and not on global markets and globalized activity.

Poverty: Food Sovereignty as the basis of Food Security

9. Food Sovereignty is the right of Indigenous Peoples to define their own policies and
strategies for sustainable production, distribution, and consumption of food, with
respect for their own cultures and their own systems of managing natural resources and
rural areas, and is considered to be a precondition for Food Security for Indigenous
Peoples.xi

10. For indigenous peoples, ?living well? is not about per capita income or economic
growth; it is about cultural identity, harmony between human beings and Mother Earth.
Living well is based on the values of the culture of life, coexistence and
complementarities not only between individuals, but in the harmony between them and
nature, responding to the protection of the common good and benefit of all life. Food
sovereignty and food security is a crucial aspect of the notion of "living well" of
indigenous peoples. Everyone has the right and responsibility to participate in the
decision on how to produce and distribute food. The vision of food sovereignty entails
transforming the current food system to ensure that those who produce food have
equitable access to and control over, land, water, seeds, fishing and agricultural
biodiversity.xii

11. Emphasizing the importance of ensuring sustainable access to water resources for
agriculture to realize the right to adequate food, attention should be given to ensuring that
disadvantaged and marginalized farmers, including women farmers, have equitable
access to water and water management systems, including sustainable rain harvesting and
irrigation technology. Taking note of the duty in article 1 in Common,, which provides
that a people may not ?be deprived of its means of subsistence?, States, international
financial institutions and investors should ensure that there is adequate access to water for
subsistence farming and for securing the livelihoods of indigenous peoples.xiii

12. Indigenous Traditional Practices related to agro-ecology, and various forms of food
production (fishing, hunting, farming, gathering and pastoralism) as a basis of Food
sovereignty, which also serve to protect biological diversity and traditional knowledge
should be recognized and supported as alternatives to the non-sustainable industrial food
production models, based on genetically modified seeds, plants and animals and the use
of toxic pesticides and other agro-chemicals.xiv

13. In all processes related to Rio + 20, the rights to lands, territories and natural resources
of the Indigenous Peoples, their vision of well-being and sustainability based on a
harmonious relationship with the Natural World be formally incorporated, respected
and included, as a vital contribution to prevent the urgent threats to the destruction of
the global environment.xv

14. Indigenous peoples? guaranteed and uninterrupted access to and their utilization of their
traditional lands, territories and resources is the basis for ensuring the preservation of
biodiversity and indigenous peoples? right to food sovereignty and food security in their
own means of subsistence and shall be a particular focus of all efforts, programmes and
measures undertaken in furtherance of the outcomes and objectives of Rio + 20.

15. Indigenous knowledge and cultural heritage, innovations, technologies, traditional
cultural expressions, indigenous peoples? spiritual beliefs and their relevance to
sustainable development, food sovereignty and food security and the alleviation of
poverty are inalienable and shall recognized and protected in all intellectual property
regimes and schemes.

16. Environmentally sound and sustainable development shall include Indigenous Peoples?
right to development, including their right of free, prior and informed consent before
any development activities are planned or implemented on their traditional lands and
territories.

17. Recognizing the important contribution Indigenous Peoples? traditional knowledge of
ecology and sustainability to sustainable development, the objectives of Rio + 20 shall
be accomplished in full partnership with indigenous people and their communities and
their right of free, prior and informed consent.

18. The traditional knowledge, held, used and transmitted to future generations by
Indigenous women, particularly in regard to methods of adaption and mitigation must
be respected, promoted and strengthened and that their roles as leaders and actors in all
levels of discussion and decision making regarding sustainable development and wellbeing for
Indigenous Peoples be respected and protected.xvi

19. Consistent with Agenda 21, Chapter 26, one global economic system of free markets for
the world has proven to be destructive to sustainability, biodiversity, and water as a
source of self sustaining production of means of subsistence, Indigenous Peoples food
sovereignty, food security, cultures, spiritual lives and identities shall be protected.

20. Particularly for Indigenous Peoples and world sustainability, an alternative emphasis on
sustainable communities and green economies should be emphasized;

21. Consistent with the United Nations Declarations on the Right to Development and on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, we affirm Indigenous Peoples? right to participate in
sustainable development as subjects and not objects of development. We further affirm
Conclusion # 1 from the Manaus Declaration that ?The United Nations Declaration on
the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2007 and
now supported by all UN member States, provides a framework for the full and
effective participation of Indigenous Peoples in all stages of the Rio + 20 process.?

22. As 80% of the world?s population is fed by small scale food producers, including
Indigenous Peoples, industrialized agriculture is not a solution for Indigenous Peoples
food security and food sovereignty as it creates poverty by displacing Indigenous and
local communities from their lands and resources necessary for their subsistence, and
leads to the loss of biodiversity, the pollution of our oceans, groundwater, rivers and
streams; industrialized agriculture deprives small scale food producers and subsistence
based indigenous food production of land, biodiversity and other resources causing even
more poverty and food insecurity.

23. Existing human rights standards that call for the return of lands and territories taken
from Indigenous Peoples without their free, prior and informed consent be be returned
to them shall be respected and affirmed, and States shall take effective measures toward
environmentally sound and sustainable food sovereignty particularly for these lands and
territories and Indigenous communities.

Water, Food security, Food Sovereignty

24. Indigenous Peoples? relationship with their lands, territories and water is the fundamental
physical cultural and spiritual basis for their and humanity?s existence and should be
respected and protected for the benefit of humanity: This relationship to our Mother Earth
requires us to conserve our freshwaters and oceans for the survival of present and future
generations. We assert our role as caretakers with rights and responsibilities to defend
and ensure the protection, availability and purity of water. We stand united to follow and
implement our knowledge and traditional laws and exercise our right of self-
determination to preserve water, and to preserve life.xvii

25. Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for
the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources. States shall
consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their
own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to
the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources,
particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral,
water or other resources.xviii

26. The UNESCO Universal Declaration of Cultural Diversity (2001) and the Johannesburg
Declaration on Sustainable Development (2002) urges the dialogue and cooperation
within human society and among cultures in order to wisely use and sustainably manage
earth?s resources. Water is a vital resource, having economic, ecological, social and
spiritual functions. Consequently its management determines to great extent
sustainability. Due to its fundamental role in society?s life, water has a strong cultural
dimension. Without understanding and considering the cultural aspects of our water
problems no sustainable solution can be found.xix

27. UNESCO lists issues that must be positively addressed at Rio + 20 in order to find
sustainable solutions to the world?s water and food crisis:xx

? Relations between peoples and their environment are embedded in culture.

? The ways in which water is conceived and valued, understood and managed, used or
abused, worshipped or desecrated, are influenced by the cultures of which we are a part.

? Water is life, physical, emotional and spiritual. It should not be considered merely as an
economic resource. Sharing water is an ethical imperative and expression of human
solidarity. The intimate relationship between water and peoples should be explicitly taken
into account in all decision-making processes.

? As the frequent failure of ?imported solutions? has proven, water resources management
will fail without the full consideration of these cultural implications.

? Cultural diversity, developed during the millennia by human societies, constitutes a
treasure of sustainable practices and innovative approaches. Indigenous knowledge
holders should be full partners with scientists to find solutions for water-related
problems.

? Indigenous ways of life and knowledge are an integral part of humanity?s heritage and
cultural diversity. Indigenous peoples have an important role to play in sustainable water
resources management. In this context, due respect must be given to indigenous peoples?
rights.

Treaty Rights, Food Security and Food Sovereignty

28. ?Our ancestors in some areas have secured our traditional ways and food systems in Treaties.
These international agreements were signed for ?so long as the sun shines, the grass grows, and
the rivers flow?xxi

29. ?The Privilege of hunting, fishing, and gathering the wild rice upon the lands, the rivers and
the lakes is guaranteed.?xxii

30. Indigenous Peoples? have stated that Inherent and Treaty Right to Foodxxiii includes the

need to:

1. Affirm that our Right to Food is an Inherent Right affirmed in our Treaties, and that
Food Sovereignty is an essential aspect of our Sovereignty as Treaty Nations.

3. Recognize that the Creator placed us on our traditional lands and provided clean food
and water for our health and survival and that we have a inherent and Treaty right and
responsibility to care for and protect the land, plants, animals and water, and our
sacred Mother Earth as a whole, from destruction and contamination.

4. Affirm that any attempt to restrict or curtail our rights to hunt, fish, grow or gather
our traditional foods and to use the water on our Treaty lands by federal, provincial or
municipal government laws, regulations or ordinances are fundamental violation of
our human rights and Treaty rights, including our Treaty Right to Food.

5. Recognize the negative impacts of imposed development such as mining, damming,
drilling, Tar Sands extraction and clear cutting, as well as climate change and
environmental contamination on our traditional foods and water sources. We
recognize our Inherent and Treaty rights and responsibilities to care for and protect
the food and water sources that have been the basis of our survival since time
immemorial.

6. Recognize that we continue to have the traditional knowledge and wisdom within our
Nations about how to use and protect our traditional foods, and that our elders,
spiritual leaders and other traditional practitioners carry this knowledge as passed
down from our ancestors.

7. Recognize the urgent need to make sure that our children, young people and future
generations learn about our Treaty Rights, including our Treaty Right to Food and
how to use and care for our traditional subsistence foods, waters and medicines. This
is fundamental for our continued survival.

8. Recognize the importance of re-establishing the traditional trade relationships that
always existed between our Nations as part of our Indigenous development, Nationto- Nation relations, and food sovereignty; we recognize the importance of reestablishing these Indigenous trade relations that include the exchange of traditional
foods and knowledge as a response to the urgent situations now facing many of our
Nations as their traditional foods become more scare (such as urbanized areas).

9. Call upon all of our Treaty Nations to assert and put into practice these rights and
responsibilities, to exercise their Inherent and Treaty Right to Food and Food
Sovereignty on their traditional and Treaty lands, to protect these resources from
contamination and destruction, and to accept this responsibility for the survival of our
Nations, especially our children, grandchildren and future generations.

31. An objective of Rio + 20 shall be to ensure the implementation of Treaty Rights to Food
and Food Sovereignty in accordance with these internationally binding treaties and
agreements made between Indigenous Peoples and Colonialist States and their
successors.

Indigenous Women: Biodiversity, Climate Change, and Food Sovereignty

32. The UN Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier de Schutter reported to the UN Human
Rights Council 10th session in March 2009 that ?Climate change constitutes the single
most important threat to food security in the future?.xxiv

33. ?Indigenous women are life givers, life sustainers and culture holders. Our bodies are
sacred places that must be protected, honored and kept free of harmful contaminants in
order for the new generations of our Nations to be born strong and healthy.?xxv

34. Indigenous knowledge systems and the diversity of life within our territories are
collective resources under our direct control and administration. Indigenous women play
a key role in the protection and maintenance of the biodiversity in diverse ecosystems
including forests, dry and sub-humid, inland waters, and marine and coastal, mountains
regions. Our lifeways, our artistic expressions, are dependent on and the bounty of the
land. Any erosion of biodiversity irreversibly impacts not only our Indigenous cultural
heritage but the ability of the world to sustain itself and its future generations.xxvi

35. Medicinal knowledge of Indigenous women is widespread and in their vast expertise,
they are our midwives, spiritual leaders, healers, herbalists, botanists and pharmacists.
Their knowledge, use and control of these medicinal plants must be protected from
external research and commercialization efforts in order that they continue to heal us and
maintain all related biodiversity necessary for sustainability and food sovereignty.xxvii

37. Indigenous communities have been and continue to be expelled from their lands and to be
victimized by the despoilment of their lands and sacred sites, on the pretext of the
establishment of protected areas and national parks. The rights of Indigenous women and
all Indigenous Peoples should be restored and that these acts, which violate our human
rights and the rights of women, cease immediately. xxix

38. Protected Areas should serve to protect Indigenous and local communities, who should
manage and control those areas consistent with the rights of local communities and the
UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Protected areas should protect their
biodiversity, for future generations. Unsustainable logging, mono-crop industrialized
agriculture, mining and mineral extraction should not be permitted. Concerted efforts
should take place to restore and sustain their sustainability as communities.

39. Adequate compensation for all the past wrongs and damages inflicted by the
establishment of protected areas should be provided for their restoration and protection.

40. Current debate regarding the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources
that is taking place in various UN fora is centered on mechanisms for exploitation of
these resources, not their protection. These discussions focus on the use of Western
Intellectual Property Rights to be used as the mechanisms for the protection of
Indigenous knowledge. These mechanisms are not only inadequate, but dangerous to
biodiversity and life itself, creating markets for the very source of life, subjecting it to
commercialization and exploitation.

41. To ensure that truly sui generis systems of protection of Indigenous peoples are adequate
to the task, sui generis systems of protection should be based on Indigenous customary
laws and traditional practices. Indigenous existing protection systems are legitimate on
their own right and any new mechanisms for protection, preservation and maintenance of
traditional knowledge and associated biological resources must respect and be
complementary to such existing systems and not undermine or replace them.xxx

Forests and Climate Change including Global Warming, REDD, and
Biodiversity

42. The potential loss of traditional knowledge and of the cultural and spiritual identity of
indigenous peoples and local communities shall be addressed in any safeguards,
including the concern that REDD-related payments could alter and undermine the
traditional way of life and related knowledge and customary practices of indigenous
peoples and local communities. REDD-plus efforts should build on community-based
governance systems, and acknowledge the shared responsibility of national governments
in strengthening community-based institutions of indigenous and local communities with
regards to the sustainable management, use, and control of biodiversity and natural
resources.xxxiv

43. There is a need for monitoring the impacts of REDD-plus on indigenous peoples and
local communities, in accordance with the main risks identified by the Nairobi Global
Expert Workshop. Indicators could include: (i) indicators on full and effective
participation; (ii) status and trends of boundaries of indigenous territories, land tenure,
and access rights; (iii) involuntary resettlements; (iv) changes in livelihoods and
traditional knowledge related to REDD-plus, and (v) gender equality and rights and
livelihoods of women. However, it should be noted that the social indicators identified
here are not necessarily indicators to be used at global level, and that any monitoring of
social impacts on a significant scale will be costly and requires adequate resources and
capacity.xxxv

44. The Cultural Indicators for Food Sovereignty and Sustainable Development, the
Indigenous Peoples' Indicators of Bio-diversity and the ?Indicators of Well-being?,
developed by the UN Permanent Forum shall be considered and applied as important
assessment tools directly related to the themes of Rio+20 and should be used as a basis
of indicators for any assessments of programmes and policies of Rio+20.xxxvi

45. Indigenous women and peoples and local communities can also be essential in cost-
effective monitoring of impacts of REDD-plus on biodiversity. This could include links
to indicators about traditional knowledge, for example the quality and quantity of natural
resources and biodiversity that is used for traditional purposes such as cultural
ceremonies.xxxvii

46. The detrimental effects of climate change are most directly, immediately and most
acutely felt by Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic Region where the overall magnitude of
warming in the Arctic is nearly twice that of the global average. The Arctic is a
hemispheric sink for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) many of which originate from
thousands of miles away, traveling northward via oceanic and atmospheric currents.
POPs accrue in the north through global distillation, as the cold cimate and fat-based food
web favor retention of pollutants. Arctic Indigenous Peoples suffer levels of POPs
contamination in blood and breast milk that are among the highest of any population on
earth, even though these chemicals have never been produced in the Arctic. Because of
this long-range transport of POPs, even those toxic chemicals that have been banned (e.g.
DDT and PCBs) continue to accumulate in the Arctic and sub-Arctic and certain
currently used POPs such as PBDEs and PFCs are increasing exponentially. Increasing
global temperatures accelerate transport and mobilization of POPs into and within the
Arctic. Contaminants threaten the health of present and future generations of Indigenous
Peoples who rely on traditional diets of fish and marine mammals, and their biodiversity
and Food Sovereignty.xxxviii

47. We call for the rapid phase-out of chemicals that are subject to long-range transport and
that cause adverse health effects, including those chemicals that are carcinogenic, cause
harm to learning and neurodevelopment, damage the immune system, or disrupt our
endocrine and reproductive systems.xxxix

49. Mining is an activity that produces large amounts of environmental contamination,
including greenhouse gasses, and is vastly destructive to natural ecosystems, biodiversity,
our health and well being, and the water and food sources upon which Indigenous
Peoples and other communities depend. We therefore call for a moratorium on mining in
fragile and culturally important ecosystems such as forests, deserts, near water sources, in
sacred, subsistence, in fragile arctic ecosystems and in or near the traditional lands or
territories of Indigenous Peoples.xlii

51. Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development should be fully
implemented, requiring all polluters to internalize the environmental cost of their
pollution. National authorities should promote the internalization of environmental costs
and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter
should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution.

52. Agricultural methods and practices used traditionally by Indigenous communities based
on safe alternatives to toxic pesticides be recognized and supported. The ?precautionary
approach? (principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development) is
reaffirmed at Rio + 20, together with a renewed commitment by States to eliminate the
production, use and dumping of chemicals that are toxic, persistent and hazardous that
pose dire threats to the health of impacted communities and ecosystems, and most of all
violate human rights; including the rights of Indigenous Peoples to free, prior and
informed consent as stated in Article 29 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples. We call upon States to make a commitment to utilize and implement
the Precautionary Principle as an alternative to the models of ?risk assessment? and
?management? of toxic chemicals presented in sections 19 and 20 of Agenda 21xliii.

53. The practice of exporting banned pesticides and other chemicals by the USA and other
States should cease immediately. The provisions within UN Conventions and national
laws which permit this practice without the free, prior and informed consent of the
Indigenous Peoples and communities, who may be impacted at the source of exposure as
well as through global transport, be reviewed immediately and revised.xliv

54. The indiscriminate use of pesticides and other toxic chemicals promoted and applied by
industry poisons the food chain and causes involuntary infertility, premature births, and
severely affects infant health. Environmental reproductive justice must address
involuntary infertility and the inordinately high level of birth defects among Indigenous
Peoples and other local communities exposed to these agricultural toxics, and the
disproportionate numbers of premature births, miscarriages, and developmental
disabilities that is occurring with alarming frequency and part of a global trend. Impaired
fecundity over the past two decades has increased in all reproductive age groups, but
most sharply in younger women under age twenty-five. Data (together with a growing
body of epidemiological research) show a causal link between male and female fertility
impairment and a wide array of modern chemicals.xlv

55. Indigenous Peoples, and in particular women and children suffer the detrimental,
devastating, multi-generational and deadly impacts of environmental toxins and
contaminates that were unheard of in their communities prior to industrialization,
including:

? Contamination of mothers? breast milk at 4 to 12 times the levels found in the
mother?s body tissue in some Indigenous communities;

? Elevated levels of contaminates such as POPs and heavy metals in infant cord blood;
Disproportionate levels of reproductive system cancers of the breasts, ovaries, uterus,
prostate and testicles, including in young people;

? Increasing numbers of miscarriages and stillbirths, and;

? High levels of sterility and infertility in contaminated communities.xlvi

56. States, international financial institutions, United Nations programmes and actions, as
well as private investors and corporations must do due diligence and fully disclose to all
Indigenous Peoples, Nations, tribes, and communities, their activities and potential risks.
Peoples and individuals who may be affected by or exposed to pesticides, mining,
dumping, incineration and other forms of toxic chemical production, the complete known
or suspected affects of the chemicals in question, the location and names of corporations
producing them, any current or prior legal sanctions or cases filed against them, the
Indigenous Peoples in the same or other countries who have experiences with the given
process or corporation, so that informed decisions can be made as part of Indigenous
Peoples right to free, prior and informed consent.

57. Commercial pressures on land are rapidly growing. Biofuels, large-scale infrastructures
projects, carbon-credit mechanisms, and speculation lead to rapid changes in land rights,
creating new threats for vulnerable land users, particularly Indigenous Peoples. Climate
change and population growth will exacerbate tensions within countries and between
them. Guidelines on land governance, consistent with the UN Declaration on the rights of
indigenous peoples and other International human rights Standards should be adopt rules
on land investment, and harmful investments to the detriment of local populations ? so-
called land grabbing - be warded off by securing the underlying rights of indigenous
peoples, small scale farmers, herders and fisherfolk.xlvii

58. States, International financial institutions and other investors must strengthen security of
tenure for small-scale food producers, such as Indigenous Peoples, smallholder farmers,
nomadic herders, and fisherfolk, all of whom are gravely threatened by the current
commercial pressures on land.xlviii

59. In encouraging responsible investment in land, States should be wary of the dangers of
speculation over land and concentration of ownership when land rights are transferred to
investors offering to ?develop? farmland. We must escape the mental cage that sees largescale investments as the only way to ?develop? agriculture and to ensure stability of
supply for buyers. Focus should be placed on the improvement of access to markets for
Indigenous Peoples and other small-scale farmers.xlix

Institutional Framework f or Sustainable Development:

Governance

1. The Precautionary Principle, Principle 15 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and
Development shall be applied to all technologies and practices, existing and proposed for
sustainable development by Rio + 20. ?In order to protect the environment, the
precautionary approach shall be widely applied by States according to their capabilities.
Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty
shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent
environmental degradation."

2. The Polluter pays, Principle 16 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development
should be fully implemented, requiring all polluters to internalize the environmental cost
of their pollution. National authorities should promote the internalization of
environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the
approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution.

3. The focus of Rio + 20 shall be on sustainable ?communities? and not on sustainable
?development.?

4. Food Sovereignty should be the framework for food security and the alleviation of
poverty.

5. The ?Cultural Pillar? be adopted at Rio + 20 as the missing ?4th Pillar? of Sustainable
Development based on the perspectives, rights, traditional knowledge, cultural integrity,
identity and sustainable practices of Indigenous Peoples which are integral to our
vision, practice and understanding of development, thus effectively, reflecting the
international accepted definition of the right to development, as a fundamental
component of self-determination of all peoples.

6. All Human Rights, particularly the rights recognized by the United Nations Declaration
on the rights of indigenous people must be recognized, protected and fulfilled by States,
international funds and financial institutions and private investors, in all Rio + 20
programmes, actions and activities,

7. Reliance on carbon fossil fuels must be reduced as it is the major element in the world?s
unsustainable and environmentally damaging economy. False market solutions such as
carbon trading, carbon offsets and the creation of markets in sequestration have not
worked and have actually led to higher carbon emissions, the loss of biological diversity,
land grabs, forced displacement of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and the
violations of human rights, and should be rejected.

8. A moratorium shall be declared for the development of the extraction of fossil fuels;
particularly environmentally and biologically damaging fossil fuel extraction such as
fracking and tar sands oil extraction should immediately be reduced and ultimately
eliminated.

9. Industrialized agriculture and particularly its introduction of genetically modified seeds
and foodstuffs, toxic chemicals, non-native species and the production of bio-fuels and
other non-food plants are not a solution to sustainable development and actually lead to
the mounting loss of biodiversity, displacement of indigenous and local communities, the
loss of livelihood and the loss of production of means of subsistence.

i
IITC and IWA are in Consultative Status with ECOSOC (IITC ? General, IWA ? Special.) The NGOs listed herein
are themselves organizations of Indigenous Nations and organizations, See, e.g., Addendum, the Board and the
affiliates of the IITC.

ii
Source: UN Declaration on the Right to Development (1986)

iii
Source: Article 1 in Common, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) (1966) and the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESC) (1966); UN Declaration on the Right to
Development (1986); UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007).

iv
Source: Fn. 1, UN Declaration on the Right to Development.

v
Fn.2, UN Declaration on the Right to Development.

vi
Source: International Indigenous Peoples Forum on Climate Change proposals at the UNFCCC COP 16,
December 2010, reaffirmed by the Second Technical Workshop of Indigenous Peoples and States in the UNFCCC
in preparation for COP17 in Durban South Africa held in Oaxaca Mexico October 10 ? 12, 2011.]

vii
Source; All references to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its respect,
protection and fulfillment by Rio + 20 are supported by the following international norms relevant to indigenous
peoples: Article 1 in Common to the Universal Bill of Human Rights (Fn. 3, supra); ILO Convention No. 169
concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries (1989); articles 29 (c) and (d) and 30 of the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); article 8 (j) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992),
recommending that States respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovation and practices of indigenous
communities; Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (1992), in particular
chapter 26; and Part I, paragraph 20, of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action (1993), stating that States
should take concerted positive steps to ensure respect for all human rights of indigenous people, on the basis of nondiscrimination. See also the preamble and article 3 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (1992); and article 10 (2) (e) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Countries
Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa (1994). During recent years an
increasing number of States have changed their constitutions and/or introduced legislation recognizing specific
rights of indigenous peoples.

xlvii
Source: UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier de Shutter, Rome Food Summit 2011. See, also,
?Access to Land and the Right to Food?, Report presented to the 65th General Assembly of the United Nations by
the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, UN Doc. A/65/281), 21 October 2010,
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/annual.htmor http://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/officialreports/2
0101021_access-to-land-report_en.pdf; and,, Comments on the Zero Draft of the Voluntary Guidelines on the
Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests?, 16 May 2011,
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/food/other_documents.htm orhttp://www.srfood.org/images/stories/pdf/otherd
ocuments/20110516_comments-zero-draft-guidelines_en.pdf